[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3468-S3469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JANUARY 6 COMMISSION

  Mr. SCHUMER. On another matter, the January 6 Commission. Last night, 
I filed cloture on the House-passed legislation to create an 
independent Commission and report on the events of January 6.
  There is an obvious and urgent need to establish such a Commission. 
What happened on January 6 was a travesty, the culmination of months of 
deliberate lies about our elections, propagated by the former 
President, a dishonest man, and his allies.
  The Capitol was breached for the first time since the War of 1812. 
Capitol Police officers were brutalized. One was killed in the attack. 
I shouldn't need to remind this Chamber of the scene on January 6. We 
were all there. At one point, I was within 20 feet of these White 
supremacist hooligans.
  That day continues to haunt us. Faith in our elections, in our 
democracy has nosedived. Listen to this. In a variety of polls, more 
than half of the Republican Party believes the election was rigged and 
Joe Biden isn't the real President. That is a flashing red warning sign 
for our democracy. If the American people, if a large chunk of them 
believe the Big Lie, if the majority of Americans believe that our 
elections are not on the level, we are on the road to ruin. This grand, 
beautiful, wonderful, several-century-old democracy could teeter when 
people don't believe it is fair, when people don't believe the 
elections are on the level.
  All the fighting in the past, all the internecine fighting--I can't 
remember a moment in history where people doubted the veracity of our 
elections. They may not have liked the outcome, but they believed they 
were on the level. We stop believing that and, believe me, it will 
spread. One side will feel that way one day and then the other side 
will feel that way the next day, and then nobody will believe in this 
democracy.
  But right now, unfortunately, there is a lack of courage from the 
other side when it comes to defeating these lies. Down the hall, House 
Republicans have started to make ridiculous claims about January 6--
defending the mob, blaming antifa for the attack, pretending the entire 
event was just a peaceful protest.
  Congresswoman Cheney, a brave woman, was literally fired for saying 
that Joe Biden is President--for just saying the simple fact that Joe 
Biden is President.
  We need an independent, trusted, bipartisan Commission now more than 
ever. It is critically important to establish a trusted record of 
events and begin to restore faith in our democracy. And I think our 
Republican colleagues know it or at least they used to because over the 
last few months, a funny thing has happened. Our Senate Republican 
colleagues have gone from mostly supporting the idea of an independent 
Commission to mostly opposing one. And they can't seem to get their 
story straight.
  Over the weekend, one Senate Republican told a national news program 
that it was ``too early'' to establish a Commission on January 6, even 
though more than 5 months have gone by. Another Republican Senator 
worried the Commission's work would end up ``dragging on 
indefinitely.''
  Which is it, too early, too late? Of course, both concerns are silly. 
There is no justification for a waiting period, and the legislation 
itself includes a firm deadline for the Commission to issue a report no 
later than December 31 of this year.
  One Republican said that he wouldn't vote for a January 6 Commission 
``until it was bipartisan.'' Of course, the legislation we are talking 
about

[[Page S3469]]

was negotiated by the Republican ranking member on the House Homeland 
Security Committee, the committee of jurisdiction; House Democrats 
accepted every change requested by the House Republican leadership; and 
the bill received 35 votes in the House and, likely, a lot more if 
House leadership didn't flip their position at the last minute.
  Despite the pressure of Donald Trump to go along with his Big Lie, 
35--35--House Republicans voted to go forward. They are brave, should 
be commended, and it shows that this truly is a national need, a 
bipartisan national need.
  Another Republican Senator, in worried tones, said the January 6 
Commission should be more like the 9/11 Commission and be chaired by 
outside independent investigators appointed by both parties. Hello. I 
hate to break it to my Republican colleagues, but the legislation 
passed by the House is modeled after the 9/11 Commission and, you 
guessed it, would be chaired by outside independent personnel appointed 
by both parties. They say they want that in the bill. It is in the 
bill.
  So what is really going on here? Why the various, shifting reasons 
why Republicans can't support a simple bipartisan, down-the-middle, 50-
50 Commission to report on a very serious event in our Nation's 
history?
  Well, it seems the real reason has nothing to do with the structure 
of the Commission, nothing to do with the details of the bill. It all 
has to do with politics. According to POLITICO this morning, the 
Republican leader, Senator McConnell, told his Members behind closed 
doors that ``regardless of tweaks to the bill . . . approving the 
Commission could hurt the party's midterm election message.''

  Again, that is a quote from a report in POLITICO magazine or POLITICO 
newsletter--whatever POLITICO is. Let me repeat that. According to this 
report, the Republican leader of the Senate opposes any independent 
inquiry into the January 6 insurrection because he is worried the truth 
could hurt the Republicans politically.
  Look, I am sorry if an independent Commission to study an attack on 
our democracy isn't the Republican ad maker's idea of a good time. This 
is too important--too important.
  We cannot let the Big Lie fester. We cannot let faith in our 
elections continue to erode. We must get at the truth and restore 
Americans' confidence in this beautiful, noble, ongoing experiment in 
democracy.
  The Senate will vote on the Commission. I hope our Republican 
colleagues rise to the occasion.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________